System and method for identifying mobile device users using a wireless communications device at an entity location

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for identifying and communicating with a user through the user&#39;s mobile device. One example method includes receiving, from the mobile device, a user identifier associated with the user and an entity identifier associated with an entity location, the entity identifier being obtained by the mobile device from a wireless transmitter located adjacent to an entrance of the entity location; retrieving user profile data associated with the user identifier from a user database, the user profile data including a user qualifier; providing the user profile data to a display device at the entity location, the display device configured to display the user profile data, including the user qualifier; and sending at least one notification to the mobile device for display thereon, the at least one notification comprising at least one of information related to the entity location and a portion of the user profile data.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to identifying mobile device users at an entitylocation, and more particularly, to identifying each user using themobile device of the user and a wireless communication device at theentity location.

BACKGROUND

In most cases, when a person enters a retail store, the store'semployees have no knowledge of the person's identity, shopping history,preferences, or interests. As a result, store employees must approachthe person with a “blank slate” in mind, providing standard greetingsand uniform customer service regardless of whether the person is apreferred customer (e.g., based on store loyalty program activity), anoccasional customer of the store, or a first-time shopper. For example,store employees may share in-store specials or other promotionsinformation with each person entering the store, regardless of whetherthe person is interested in hearing this information.

By contrast, if a store employee recognizes a person entering the store,for example, because the person is a long-time and/or frequent customerof the store, the store employee's interaction with the customer may bepersonalized based on past encounters and/or tailored to the employee'sknowledge of the customer's preferences, interests, etc. For example,the store employee may refrain from sharing the in-store specials uponrecognizing a customer that routinely comes into the store for pharmacyor photo pick-ups and never stops at any other department. Likewise, thestore employee may highlight the in-store specials related to beautyproducts upon recognizing a customer that enjoys trying new beautyproducts and/or regularly shops in the beauty department of the store.However, such personalized interaction is only possible with a limitednumber of customers, if any, and only at that retail location, for aslong as the relationship-building employees remain at the location.

Accordingly, there is still a need for a customer interaction systemthat can provide store employees with information about a customerentering a retail store and can provide the customer with morepersonalized experience while in the store.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is intended to solve the above-noted problems by providingsystems and methods configured to identify and communicate with mobiledevice users at an entity location, and/or anticipate user needs andprovide appropriate assistance, using the mobile device of the users andone or more wireless communication device(s) at the entity location.

For example, one embodiment provides a computer-implemented method foridentifying and communicating with a user through the user's mobiledevice. The method includes receiving, from the mobile device, a useridentifier associated with the user and an entity identifier associatedwith an entity location, the entity identifier being obtained by themobile device from a wireless transmitter located adjacent to anentrance of the entity location; retrieving user profile data associatedwith the user identifier from a user database, the user profile dataincluding a user qualifier; providing the user profile data to a displaydevice at the entity location, the display device configured to displaythe user profile data, including the user qualifier; and sending atleast one notification to the mobile device for display thereon, the atleast one notification comprising at least one of information related tothe entity location and a portion of the user profile data.

Another example embodiment provides a system in network communicationwith a mobile device of a customer, the system comprising a retail storesystem and a central system in network communication with the mobiledevice and the retail store system. The retail store system includes anemployee device configured to display customer profile data associatedwith the customer, the customer profile data including a customerqualifier. The retail store system also includes a wireless transmitterpositioned adjacent to an entrance of a retail store, the wirelesstransmitter being configured to transmit a store identifier associatedwith the retail store within a predetermined transmission range, whereinthe mobile device receives the store identifier upon entering thepredetermined transmission range. The central system includes a customerdatabase configured to store the customer profile data in associationwith a user identifier associated with the customer. The central systemalso includes a central server configured to receive, from the mobiledevice, the store identifier and the user identifier; retrieve thecustomer profile data from the customer database based on the useridentifier; provide the customer profile data to the employee device;and send at least one notification to the mobile device for displaythereon, the at least one notification comprising at least one ofinformation related to the retail store and a portion of the customerprofile data.

Yet another example embodiment provides a computer-implemented method ofcommunicating a customer presence in a retail store using a mobiledevice. The method includes receiving, via a wireless receiver of themobile device, a store identifier associated with a retail store, thestore identifier being transmitted by a wireless transmitter locatedadjacent to an entrance of the retail store, and the mobile devicereceiving the store identifier upon entering a predeterminedtransmission range of the wireless transmitter; retrieving, from amemory of the mobile device, a user identifier associated with thecustomer; transmitting, via a wireless transceiver of the mobile device,the user identifier and the store identifier to a central server;receiving, via the wireless transceiver, at least one notification fromthe central server, the at least one notification comprising at leastone of information related to the retail store and customer profile dataassociated with the user identifier; and displaying the at least onenotification on a display of the mobile device.

Other implementations are contemplated in accordance with the techniquesdescribed herein, as will be apparent to one having ordinary skill inthe art upon examination of the following drawings and detaildescription, and such implementations are intended to within the scopeof this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made tothe exemplary and non-limiting embodiments shown in the followingdrawings and described hereinafter. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale and related elements may be omitted, or in someinstances proportions may have been exaggerated, so as to emphasize andclearly illustrate the novel features described herein. In addition,system components can be variously arranged, as known in the art.Further, in the drawings, like reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment foridentifying and communicating with a customer in a retail store and/oranticipating the customer's needs, in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary retail store, inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing device forimplementing various operations of the environment shown in FIG. 1, inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of an exemplary dashboard interface displayed onan employee device of the environment of FIG. 1, in accordance withembodiments.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of various exemplary notifications displayed on amobile device of the environment of FIG. 1, in accordance withembodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary functions and/orinteractions performed by one or more components of the environment ofFIG. 1 for identifying and communicating with a customer in a retailstore, in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating exemplary functions and/orinteractions performed by one or more components of the environment ofFIG. 1 for anticipating customer needs in a retail store and providingappropriate customer assistance based thereon, in accordance withembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows describes, illustrates, and exemplifies oneor more particular embodiments of the invention in accordance with itsprinciples. This description is not provided to limit the invention tothe embodiments described herein, but rather to explain and teach theprinciples of the invention in such a way to enable one of ordinaryskill in the art to understand these principles and, with thatunderstanding, be able to apply them to practice not only theembodiments described herein, but also other embodiments that may cometo mind in accordance with these principles. The scope of the inventionis intended to cover all such embodiments that may fall within the scopeof the appended claims, either literally or under the doctrine ofequivalents.

In this application, the use of the disjunctive is intended to includethe conjunctive. The use of definite or indefinite articles is notintended to indicate cardinality. In particular, a reference to “the”object or “a” and “an” object is intended to denote also one of apossible plurality of such objects.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment 100 for identifying andcommunicating with mobile device users at an entity location, such as,for example, customers in a retail store, and/or anticipating user needsand providing appropriate or targeted assistance to the users whilevisiting the entity location, in accordance with embodiments. Althoughthe embodiments described herein are explained in the context of aretail store, the term “entity location” is used herein to include bothretail and non-retail entities, such as, for example, restaurants,hotels, health and beauty services, or any other entity having one ormore establishments are communicatively coupled to a central orenterprise system.

As shown, the environment 100 includes a mobile computing device 102(also referred to herein as “mobile device”), a retail store system 104(also referred to herein as “store system), and an enterprise or centralstore system 106 (also referred to herein as a “central system”) incommunication with the mobile device 102 and the retail store system 104via a communication network 108. In embodiments, the central system 106can be configured to communicate with a plurality of retail stores (notshown) via the communication network 108, and each retail store can havea corresponding retail store system 104 housed within the retail store.FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary retail store 200 that may berepresentative of any one of the plurality of retail storescommunicatively coupled to the central system 106 and includes thecomponents of the retail store system 104. The mobile device 102 shownin FIG. 1 can be associated with, or operated by, a user or customerlocated adjacent to or inside a given retail store, such as, forexample, a customer 202 entering the retail store 200, as shown in FIG.2.

According to embodiments, the environment 100 can be configured toprovide identification of the customer 202 to an employee of the retailstore 200 using the mobile device 102, as the customer 202 enters theretail store 200 or shortly after an arrival of the customer 202 at theretail store 200. In embodiments, the environment 100 can be furtherconfigured to monitor a location of the customer 202 within the store200 and anticipate one or more customer needs based on one or moreaspects of the customer's behavior and/or account history. Also inembodiments, the environment 100 can be configured to communicate withthe mobile device 102 of the customer 202 to (1) address the identifiedneed(s) of the customer, for example, by providing messages to themobile device 102 that are relevant to the identified need and/or thecustomer's current location within the store 200, and/or (2) welcome thecustomer 202 to the store 200 by providing a welcome notification and/ora message conveying information about the store 200. Example techniquesfor carrying out these and other aspects of the environment 100 will bedescribed in more detail below.

Various components of the environment 100, and/or interactionstherebetween, may be implemented using software executable by one ormore servers or computers, such as exemplary computing device 300 with aprocessor 302 and a memory 304, as shown in FIG. 3 and described in moredetail below. In embodiments, one or more instances of the computingdevice 300 may be utilized to implement the mobile device 102; any,some, or all of the components of the retail store system 104; and any,some, or all of the components the central system 106. In someembodiments, all or portions of the central system 106 and/or the storesystem 104 may be implemented by a proprietary computer system (notshown), such as, for example, Walgreen Company's Intercom Plus (IC+)computer system. Moreover, certain interactions between components ofthe environment 100 may be implemented by software stored in andexecuted by the mobile device 102, one or more computing devices of thecentral system 106, and/or one or more computing devices of the storesystem 104, as described herein.

Certain interactions between the components of the environment 100 mayinclude providing displayable content to one or more computing devicesincluded in the store system 104, and/or causing the device(s) todisplay the same, in the form of a customer dashboard interface, forexample, as illustrated by the exemplary screenshot shown in FIG. 4.Additional interactions between the components of the environment 100may include providing displayable content to the mobile device 102,and/or causing the mobile device 102 to display the same, in the form ofweb pages, text messages, prompts, and/or other notifications, forexample, as illustrated by the exemplary screenshot shown in FIG. 5.Further interactions between the components of the environment 100 mayinclude providing identifying information related to the retail store200 to the mobile device 102, and transmitting the identifyinginformation, and a user identifier associated with the customer 202,from the mobile device 102 to the central system 106.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the retail store 200 can be configuredto include one or more wireless communication devices 110 configured totransmit or broadcast a wireless signal comprising identifyinginformation 112 to the mobile device 102 or any other electronic devicescapable of receiving the wireless signal. In embodiments, the one ormore wireless communication devices 110 can be configured to transmitthe wireless signal within a predefined transmission range, and themobile device 102, or other electronic device, can be configured toreceive the signal, and the identifying information 112 therein, whenlocated within this range. In some embodiments, the communicationdevice(s) 110 can be configured to transmit the wireless signal upondetecting the mobile device 102 within a predefined proximity of thedevice 110 using any suitable proximity detection techniques.

In some embodiments, a single wireless communication device 110 ispositioned at, near, or adjacent to a main entrance 204 of the retailstore 200, and the mobile device 102 receives the wireless signal uponnearing the entrance 204. In other embodiments, a plurality of wirelesscommunication devices 110 are positioned at various locations throughoutthe retail store 200, including the entrance 204, and as the customer202 moves through the store 200, the mobile device 102 receives wirelesssignals from different communication devices 110 depending on thein-store location of the customer 202, or which communication device 110is in closest proximity to the mobile device 102. For example, as shownin FIG. 2, the wireless communication devices 110 may be positioned atthe entrance 204, as well as in certain departments (e.g., “Photo”,“Beauty,” “Pharmacy,” and “Health & Wellness”), relative to certainaisles (e.g., aisles 1 through n), and/or near point-of-sale (POS)counters (e.g., “POS 1,” “POS 2,” and “POS 5”).

The wireless communication devices 110 can be emitters or other suitablecommunication devices configured to transmit or broadcast signals withinthe predefined transmission range in accordance with one or morecommunication protocols and/or standards, such as, for example,Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), radio frequency identification(RFID), near field communication (NFC), and/or Wi-Fi communicationprotocols. In one example embodiment, the wireless communication devices110 are implemented as iBeacon devices developed by Apple Inc. In suchcase, the wireless communication devices 110 are configured to transmitthe identifying information 112 in accordance with one or more standardsutilized by iBeacon devices, such as, for example, the BLE protocol, andcan have a predefined transmission range of, for example, 10, 30, or 100meters depending on the power or class of the Bluetooth device.

As will be appreciated, each of the wireless communication devices 110can include any suitable number of wireless transmitters, receivers,and/or transceivers, power sources, processors, memories, etc. tofacilitate the functionalities described herein. In some embodiments,the communication devices 110 are configured only to transmit signalsand do not receive communications. Such embodiments may be preferred incommunication devices 110 that employ a battery power source in order toreduce power consumption. In other embodiments, the communicationdevices 110 are configured to transmit and receive communications. Insome embodiments, one or more of the communication devices 110 caninclude a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver and/orother suitable types of receivers for obtaining a geographic location ofthe device 110 (e.g., location coordinates) and/or to determine arespective position of the device 110 via network triangulation.

The identifying information 112 (also referred to herein as “ID info.”)can be stored in any suitable memory device utilized by the respectivewireless communication device 110, such as, for example, flash-basedmemory, a battery-backed RAM, etc. In embodiments, the identifyinginformation 112 can comprise any suitable form of presence informationfor identifying a location and/or identity of the respective wirelesscommunication device 110. For example, in some embodiments, theidentifying information 112 includes a unique device identifier thatidentifies the respective wireless communication device 110 and can becorrelated to a location of the communication device 110 by a receivingdevice, such the mobile device 102. For example, each device identifiermay be mapped to a specific location within the store 200, to the store200 itself, or any another location, and the mobile device 102 may beconfigured to determine the specific location of the communicationdevice 110 based on this mapping (e.g., using a look-up table). Inembodiments, the unique device identifier may be, for example, auniversally unique identifier (UUID) in accordance with an iBeaconformat or other suitable format.

As another example, in some embodiments, the identifying information 112includes a store identifier (ID) (also referred to herein as an “entityidentifier”) that is associated with or identifies the retail store 200in which the wireless communication device 110 is located. In suchcases, the store identifier may include, for example, a store number, astore name, a store location descriptor (e.g., street address, city,and/or state information), latitude and longitude coordinates for thestore 200, and/or an alphanumeric string associated with the store 200.As yet another example, in some embodiments, the identifying information112 includes a location identifier that is associated with a position orlocation of the wireless communication device 110 within the retailstore 200. In such cases, the location identifier (ID) (also referred toherein as an “in-store location ID”) may include, for example, anin-store location name or descriptor (e.g., aisle number, storedepartment name, etc.), latitude and longitude coordinates for thein-store location, and/or an alphanumeric string associated with thein-store location.

In some embodiments, the identifying information 112 includes acombination of different identifiers. For example, for eachcommunication device 110, the identifying information 112 may include adevice identifier that is uniquely associated with that device 110(e.g., UUID), as well as a store identifier that is associated with theretail store 200 and/or a location identifier that is associated withthe particular location of the communication device 110 within theretail store 200. In such cases, a portion of the identifyinginformation 112 can be unique to the communication device 110 and/or thein-store location of the device 110, while another portion of theidentifying information 112 (e.g., the store identifier) can be commonto all communication devices 110 within the retail store 200.

In some embodiments, the wireless signals transmitted by thecommunication devices 110 also include power information, such as areceived signal strength indicator (RSSI), and/or ranging data toindicate a proximity of, or distance from, the mobile device 102 to therespective communication device 110. For example, each communicationdevice 110 may store a power value representing a calibrated RSSI thatwas measured 1 meter from the communication device 110 during, forexample, an initial set-up or testing scenario. Each of thecommunication devices 110 can be configured to transmit this calibratedpower value along with the identifying information 112 to the mobiledevice 102 or other device receiving the wireless signal. The receivingdevice 102 can be configured to compare the calibrated RSSI to theactual RSSI of wireless signal received from the communication device110 to estimate a proximity to the transmitting device 110. Thisproximity information may be used by the mobile device 102, for example,to determine which of the communication devices 110 are in closestproximity to the mobile device 102 and/or triangulate an in-storelocation of the mobile device 102. In some cases, the triangulationtechnique can be used to precisely pinpoint a location of the mobiledevice 102 within the store 200, such as, for example, the exact aisleand/or a location within the aisle.

In other embodiments, for example, where the communication devices 110are not iBeacon devices, the mobile device 102 can be configured todetect its proximity to a respective wireless communication device 110using other suitable proximity detection techniques. For example,proximity detection may be accomplished by any suitable rangingtechniques, such as, for example, signal attenuation measurement and/orpropagation time of arrival (ToA) and time of departure (ToD)timestamping techniques. As another example, in some embodiments, themobile device 102 can be configured to detect proximity to a respectivecommunication device 110 by listening to and/or analyzing one or moresounds emitted from the device 110. In other embodiments, the storesystem 104 may include Bluetooth-enabled LED lights or other physicalmarkers within the store 200 for indicating a location of the mobiledevice 102. For example, the markers may be configured to turn on orlight up upon detecting the mobile device 102 within a vicinity of arespective marker using a Bluetooth signal transmitted by the mobiledevice 102.

For the sake of simplicity, FIG. 1 only shows one mobile device 102.However, it will be appreciated that the environment 100 may include aplurality of mobile devices respectively associated with each customeradjacent to or positioned within the store 200 and similar to the mobiledevice 102 described herein. In embodiments, each mobile device 102 maybe implemented as user equipment (UE), such as, for example, asmartphone, or any other suitable communication device configured tocommunicate or interact with the other components of the environment 100via the communication network 108 using one or more wired and/orwireless links for sending data to and/or receiving data from saidcomponents. For example, the mobile device 102 may be implemented as aportable computing device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tabletcomputer, a laptop computer, a wearable electronic device, etc. As willbe appreciated, the mobile device 102 may be associated with a uniquephone number, as well as other numbers or indicia for identifying themobile device 102, including, for example, a media access control (MAC)address or Internet Protocol (IP) address, a mobile directory number,subscriber or local routing number (LRN), and/or mobile identificationnumber (MIN).

The mobile device 102 can include hardware devices (e.g., a processor, amemory, a display, a communication module, and/or a user interface) andone or more software applications stored in the memory for facilitatinginteractions with, and/or presenting content received from, othercomponents of the environment 100. The one or more software applicationscan include a mobile store application 114 (also referred to herein as“store application”) configured to facilitate interactions with, presentcontent received from, and/or provide user selections and user-enteredinformation to the central store system 106 and/or the retail storesystem 104. In some cases, the mobile device 102 can also store a useridentifier 116 associated with the user of the mobile device 102 (e.g.,the customer 202).

The user identifier 116 may be used by one or more components of theenvironment 100 to determine an identity of the user or otherwiseretrieve customer information associated with the user. As an example,the user identifier 116 may include account information (e.g., username,account number, etc.) associated with an account held by the user at theretail store 200, such as a customer account, a member account, aloyalty account, a rewards account, etc. In some cases, the useridentifier 116 can be stored in, or in association with, the storeapplication 114. The user identifier 116 and any other accountinformation stored in the mobile device 102 may be entered into themobile device 102 by the user (e.g., via the user interface) or may bedownloaded onto the mobile device 102, for example, through the storeapplication 114.

In embodiments, the mobile store application 114 can be a mobileapplication that is at least partially stored in, and operates on, themobile device 102 and is associated with, or native to, the centralstore system 106. As an example, the store application 114 may beconfigured to, among other things, store and/or retrieve the useridentifier (ID) 116 and other account information associated with theuser of the mobile device 102; enable the user to access deals, coupons,and other promotions offered by the retail store 200; enable the user topurchase one or more items from the retail store 200 and/or place anorder for pick-up; present, on the display of the mobile device 102,notifications received from the central system 106 or other componentsof the environment 100; process identifying information 112 receivedfrom the wireless communication device(s) 110 to identify the retailstore 200 in which the device 110 is located and/or the in-storelocation of the communication device 110; and/or provide the useridentifier 116 and the store information retrieved from the identifyinginformation 112 to the central system 102.

In some embodiments, upon receiving the wireless signal and/or theidentifying information 112 from a respective communication device 110,the mobile device 102 can be configured to automatically launch orinitiate the store application 114 or other software application forprocessing the identifying information 112. In other embodiments, themobile device 102 may be configured to detect or receive wirelesssignals from the communication device(s) 110 only if the storeapplication 114 has already been launched or opened on the mobile device102. In some cases, the store application 114 or the other softwareapplication can be configured to run in the background, so as to notrequire user input to control processing of the identifying information112 and/or transmittal of the processed information and user ID to thecentral system 102.

In some embodiments, the one or more software applications may furtherinclude a web browser that is stored in and operating on the mobiledevice 102 and can be used to access a website hosted by the centralsystem 106 and/or load one or more web pages associated therewith and/orthe store application 114. In some cases, a webpage provided by thecentral system 106 may be displayed in a graphical user interface of thestore application 114 as an application page, instead of using the webbrowser. For example, one of the notifications received from the centralsystem 106 may include a user-selectable link to a web page that ishosted by the central system 106, and user selection of the link mayopen the web page as an application page within the store application114.

In some embodiments, the one or more software applications furtherincludes a software development kit (SDK) configured to capture wirelesssignals from respective wireless communication device(s) 110, decode thereceived signal and/or the identifying information 112 included therein,and decipher the physical location of the mobile device 102 based on theidentifying information 112. In other embodiments, this SDK is includedin the store application 114.

In some embodiments, the mobile device 102 can be configured to store adata table (e.g., look-up table) or the like that maps various pieces ofidentifying information to corresponding retail stores and/or in-storelocations. For example, the data table can include an entry for eachcommunication device 110 included in each retail store 200 that iscommunicatively coupled to the central system 106, and each entry caninclude the identifying information 112 that is being transmitted by therespective communication device 110, as well as store information, suchas a store ID, identifying the retail store 200 in which thecommunication device 110 is located and/or in-store locationinformation, such as an in-store location ID, identifying the exactlocation of the device 110 within the store.

The data table may be downloaded and stored in a memory of the mobiledevice 102 upon installation of the store application 114, may beincluded in the store application 114, and/or may be part of the SDKdescribed herein. Upon receiving the identifying information 112 from arespective communication device 110, the mobile device 102, and/or thestore application 114 executed by the processor included therein, canaccess the data table and use the received information 112 to determinean identity of the retail store 200 in which the communication device110 is situated, and/or the location of the communication device 110within the store 200.

In other embodiments, the mobile device 102 may be configured to sendthe received identifying information 112 to the central system 106, andthe central server 118 may be configured to identify the correspondingretail store or in-store location of the communication device 110 basedon the received information 112. In such cases, the data table may bestored in a memory or database of the central system 106. In still otherembodiments, a data table may not be required to identify the locationof the communication device 110. For example, in embodiments where theidentifying information 112 includes the store ID and/or the in-storelocation ID associated with the respective communication device 110, themobile device 102 can be configured to retrieve the store ID and/orlocation ID directly from the identifying information 112 and providethe retrieved identifiers to the central system 106.

The central system 106 may include any suitable number of componentsthat are owned and/or operated by the enterprise that oversees theretail stores communicatively connected to the central system 106, andare configured to implement the operations of the environment 100, asdescribed herein. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the central system106 can include one or more servers, such as central server 118, one ormore databases, such as customer database 120 and retail store database122, and/or other computing devices. The components of the centralsystem 106 may communicate with each other using any suitable number ofwired and/or wireless links, including via the communication network108. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the relevantart(s), the central system 106 may store, access, and/or transmit securedata that is of a private, proprietary, and/or sensitive nature. As aresult, various embodiments of the central system 106, as well as thecommunication network 108, the mobile device 102, the retail storesystem 104, and/or other components of the environment 100, mayimplement appropriate security protocols such as encryption, securelinks, network authentication, firewalls, etc., to appropriately protectsuch secure data.

Central server 118 may be implemented as, for example, any suitablenumber of web servers configured to provide Internet communications toone or more mobile computing devices of the environment 100, such as themobile device 102, to process application programming interface (API)service calls, and/or to support one or more applications installed on acomputing device (such as, e.g., computing device 300) of the centralsystem 106. In addition, or alternatively, central server 116 may beimplemented as, for example, any suitable number of database serversconfigured to access data from databases 118 and/or 120.

As will be appreciated, the central server 118 can include hardwaredevices (e.g., a processor, a memory, a display, a communication module,and/or a user interface) and one or more software applications stored inthe memory for facilitating interactions with other components of theenvironment 100. The one or more software applications can include acentral store application 124 configured to facilitate interactions withthe mobile device 102 and/or the retail store system 104. For example,the central store application 124 may be configured to, among otherthings, receive a store identifier, an in-store location, and/or a useridentifier from the mobile device 102; provide displayable content tothe mobile device 102, such as store data associated with, and/ornotifications related to, the retail store 200 that was identified basedon the received information; and/or provide displayable content to theretail store system 104, such as customer information associated withthe customer 202 identified as entering or browsing the store 200.

Customer database 120 may be configured to store any relevant customerdata related to operation of the environment 100. Such data may include,for example, customer profile data that includes customer information(e.g., name; mailing address, email address, mobile phone number, homephone number, and/or other contact information; date of birth; age;gender; Social Security Number); user identifier 116 (e.g., a loyaltyaccount number, a member identification (ID) number, patient ID number,a username, or other customer identifying information); a picture of thecustomer; account history information (e.g., online shopping history,in-store shopping history, shopping preferences, average purchase pricein-store, average purchase price online, other spending habits, datelast visited the retail store 200 or another enterprise location, or anyother information related to previous account activity); a customerqualifier or label for categorizing the customer based on the accounthistory of the customer and/or other profile data, the qualifier beingselected from a list of pre-defined qualifiers, or customer segments,(e.g., “Medicare Part-D,” “Photo Aficionado,” “High-Value,” “High-ValueRx,” “Low-Value Repeat,” etc.); payment information (e.g., credit cardinformation, debit card information, etc.); and any other profileinformation for each customer of the retail store 200.

One or more components of the central system 106, such as server 118,may communicate with customer database 120 to store data to and/or readdata from database 120, as needed to facilitate appropriate functions ofthe embodiments described herein. In embodiments, the central server 118can be configured to retrieve corresponding customer profile data (alsoreferred to herein as “user profile data”) based on a user identifier116 received from the mobile device 102. The central system 106 maycommunicate data retrieved from the customer database 120 to the retailstore system 104 for presentation on one or more computing devicesincluded therein, as described in more detail below.

Retail store database 122 (also referred to herein as “store database”)may be configured to store any relevant retail store data related to theoperations of the environment 100. Such data may include, for example,store information (e.g., store name (e.g., Walgreens-Niles), storelocation name (e.g., southeast corner of Main St. and First Ave.),location coordinates, street address, phone number(s), store managername(s), website address, etc.); a store number or identifier foruniquely identifying that store; a floor map of the store; storeconfiguration information (e.g., number and placement of aisles,products included in each aisle, number and placement of departmentswithin the store, etc.); a list of the in-store location identifiersassociated with each communication device 110 included in the store;deals, offers, coupons, or other promotional information related to thestore; information about the products sold in that store; and any otherinformation about each retail store connected to the central system 106.In some embodiments, the retail store data included in the storedatabase 122 further includes the data table (not shown) that maps theidentifying information for each communication device 110 to informationabout the store in which the device 110 is located and/or the in-storelocation of the device 100 (e.g., aisle number, department name, etc.).

One or more components of the central system 106, such as server 118,may communicate with store database 122 (also referred to herein as“entity database”) to store data to and/or read data from database 122,as needed to facilitate appropriate functions of the embodimentsdescribed herein. In embodiments, the central server 118 can beconfigured to retrieve corresponding retail store data (also referred toherein as “entity data”) from the store database 122 based on the storeID and/or in-store location ID received from the mobile device 102. Thecentral system 106 may communicate data retrieved from the storedatabase 122 to the retail store system 104 for presentation on one ormore computing devices included therein, as described in more detailbelow. In some cases, the central system 106 may communicate dataretrieved from the store database 122 to the mobile device 102 forpresentation thereon through the store application 114, as described inmore detail below.

As shown in FIG. 1, the store system 104 can further include one or moreemployee devices 126 configured to execute a dashboard application 128for presenting a customer dashboard or other graphical user interfacefor use by store employees to identify and monitor customers within theretail store 200. In some cases, the store system 104 includes a singleemployee device 126 that is operated by a select employee, such as, forexample, a store manager. In other cases, the store system 104 includesa plurality of employee devices 126 that are distributed to and used bya plurality of store employees, for example, as they move throughout theretail store 200. In embodiments, the employee device 126 may beimplemented as user equipment (UE), such as, for example, a smartphone,or any other suitable communication device configured to communicate orinteract with the other components of the store system 104, and/or theenvironment 100 via the communication network 108, using one or morewired and/or wireless links for sending data to and/or receiving datafrom said components. For example, the employee device 126 may beimplemented as a portable computing device, a tablet computer, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a desktop computer,a wearable electronic device, etc.

In embodiments, the dashboard application 128 can be configured topresent customer profile data 130 (also referred to herein as “customerdata”) and/or retail store data 132 (also referred to herein as “storedata”) received from the central system 106 on a display screen of theemployee device 126. The central system 106 may retrieve the customerdata 130 from the customer database 120 based on the user ID 116received from the mobile device 102. Likewise, the central system 106may retrieve the store data 132 from the store database 122 based on thestore ID and/or in-store location ID received from the mobile device102. The employee device 126 may store the received retail store data132 and/or the customer data 130 in a memory of the employee device 126for retrieval during execution of the dashboard application 128. Thedashboard application 128 may also be stored in the memory of theemployee device 126.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example graphical user interface, or customerdashboard 400, that may be displayed on a display screen and/ortouchscreen of the employee device 126 upon execution of the dashboardapplication 128 by a processor of the employee device 126, in accordancewith embodiments. The customer dashboard 400 may be operated orcontrolled by a user, such as a store employee or store manager, via auser interface and/or touchscreen of the employee device 126.

As shown, the customer dashboard 400 includes an entry 401 for eachcustomer 202 within the retail store 200, and each entry 401 presentsinformation about the corresponding customer 202, including customerdata 130 received from the central system 106 and/or stored in theemployee device 126, and current in-store location data received fromthe mobile device 102 via the central system 106. In embodiments, one ormore pieces of the information presented on the customer dashboard 400can be used to personalize the customer's experience while in the store200, for example, by providing a personalized welcome to the customer202, sharing store information that is relevant to the needs orinterests of the customer 202, and/or anticipating the needs of a givencustomer 202 and based thereon, provide appropriate assistance and/orattention to the customer 202, as described in more detail below.

In the illustrated embodiments, each entry 401 includes a photo 402 ofthe respective customer 202, a name 404 of the customer 202, a currentlocation 406 of the customer 202 within the retail store 200 (alsoreferred to herein as “customer location”), and a customer qualifier 408(also referred to herein as “user qualifier”) assigned to the customer202 based on a past account history of the customer 202. The photo 402,the name 404, and the customer qualifier 408 can be obtained from thecustomer data 130 corresponding to each customer 202. The currentlocation 406 can be obtained from the central system 106 (e.g., based onthe identifying information 112 received by the mobile device 102 fromthe wireless communication device 110 that is currently positionedclosest to the mobile device 102), and can be updated in real time (ornear real time), or as often as the central system 106 provides thelocation information. In other embodiments, other and/or additionalpieces of customer data 130 may be displayed on the customer dashboard400, such as, for example, a gender and/or age of the customer 202,spending history of the customer 202, date of last visit to the store200, one or more shopping preferences associated with the customer 202,etc.

As an example, the customer's photo 402, and/or other pieces of customerdata 130 related to the appearance of a given customer 202 (e.g., genderand/or age), can be used by a store employee (also referred to herein as“assistance provider”) to identify the customer 202 within the store200, particularly if the employee plans to greet the customer 202 orapproach the customer 202 to provide assistance. The customer's name404, and/or other pieces of customer data 130 related to the identity ofthe customer 202, can be used by the store employee and/or dashboardapplication 128 to, for example, provide a personalized greeting to thecustomer 202, either in person or via a notification on the mobiledevice 102. As another example, the customer qualifier 408, and/or otherpieces of customer data 130 related to the customer's account history(e.g., spending history, date of last visit, etc.) and shoppingpreferences, can be used by the store employee and/or dashboardapplication 128 to make sure that an appropriate level of customerservice is offered to the customer 202 and/or to inform decisionsregarding the store information (e.g., store promotions, specials,current offers, etc.) that is shared with the customer 202. Thecustomer's current location 406 within the store 200 can be used by thestore employee and/or dashboard application 128 to, for example, locatethe customer 202 within the store 200 and/or provide targeted assistanceto the customer 202 (e.g., store promotions that are relevant to thecurrent location 406 or a store employee that specializes in theproducts found at the current location 406).

As shown, each entry 401 of the customer dashboard 400 can also includea dwell time status 410 for indicating an amount of time each customer202 has been standing or dwelling in the current location 406. The dwelltime status 410 can be used by the store employee and/or the dashboardapplication 128 as an indication of whether the customer 202 requiresassistance. For example, if the customer 202 appears to be dwelling inthe same location 406 for a long period of time (e.g., longer than athreshold amount of time), the dashboard application 128 and/or the userof the employee device 126 may determine that the customer 202 needsassistance with selecting a product.

In some embodiments, the dwell time status 410 displays an actual amountof time spent at the current location 406 (e.g., 1 minute, 30 seconds or2.2 minutes) and updates the customer's dwell time in real time. Inother embodiments, the dwell time status 410 includes a relative amountof time spent at the current location 406 as compared to a predeterminedthreshold. In such cases, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the dwelltime status 410 may be selected from a predefined list of statusindicators for indicating that the dwell time is under the threshold,exceeds the threshold, at the threshold, or not available (N/A). Acustomer's dwell time may not be available, for example, when thecustomer 202 first walks into the store 200 or while the customer 202 iswalking through the store 200. In some embodiments, the threshold timecan be selected and/or adjusted by the store employee or manager. Inother embodiments, the threshold can be pre-configured by a programmerof the dashboard application 128 or set to default threshold untilchanged. In one example embodiment, the threshold amount of time is setto two minutes. In some embodiments, the threshold amount of time canvary depending on the corresponding department, aisle, or other sectionof the store 200.

In some cases, the dwell time status 410 may be displayed with, oraccompanied by, visual effects (e.g., flashing font, bold font,different colored font, etc.), sounds, or other types of alerts tosignal that the threshold has been reached or exceeded. For example, asshown in FIG. 4, a status indicator of “Dwell time exceeds threshold”may be displayed in bold print to grab the attention of the user. Insome cases, the alert may be initiated as soon as the dwell time reachesthe threshold, so that an appropriate action can be initiated rightaway.

Timing information used to populate the dwell time status 410 may beobtained from a timer (not shown) that is included in the employeedevice 126 and/or implemented using the dashboard application 128. Inembodiments, the employee device 126 and/or the dashboard application128 can be configured to start the timer (also referred to herein as a“dwell timer”) upon detecting a presence of the customer 202 in adepartment, aisle, or other section of the store 200 and to keep thetimer running for as long as the customer 202 remains in that section ofthe store 200. For example, the timer may be started upon receiving anew customer location 406 for the respective customer 202 at theemployee device 126 from the central server 106. In some cases, thetimer may continue to run until the dashboard application 128 and/or theemployee device 126 receives a different customer location 406, detectsmovement of the customer 202 away from that section of the store, and/ordetects a presence of the customer 202 in a different part of the store.In other cases, the timer may stop running once the threshold has beenexceeded by a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 15 seconds, 30seconds, etc.), even if the customer 202 is still dwelling in the samelocation.

The information presented on the customer dashboard 400 can be used in anumber of ways to improve and/or refine the customer service provided toeach customer 202. For example, the information may be used toanticipate the needs of the customer 202 while shopping at the store 200and/or to offer appropriate customer assistance based on the identifiedneed, including helping the customer 202 with locating and selecting aproduct, picking up an order, checking out, or answering questions abouta product or order. In some cases, the customer service provided to thecustomer 202 is in the form of self-service assistance, for example, bydirecting the customer to existing online tools or sending helpfulmessages to the customer via the mobile device 102. In other cases, thecustomer service involves live or in-person assistance, for example,from a store employee.

According to embodiments, the type of customer assistance, or customerservice action, provided to each customer 202 can be category-specificactions, depending on the values associated with various customer data,such as, for example, the customer qualifier 408 associated with thecustomer 202, the customer location 406 or the store department in whichthe customer 202 is currently located, and/or the dwell time status 410for that location 406. In some cases, the appropriate customer serviceaction can be determined based on the values associated with acombination of the categories, such as, for example, the customerlocation 406 together with the dwell time status 410. In other cases,the appropriate customer service action can be determined based on thevalue associated with a single category, such as, for example, thecustomer qualifier 408.

In some embodiments, the dashboard application 126 and/or the centralapplication 124 may automatically initiate a corresponding customerservice action upon receiving the required pieces of information and/oronce a predetermined set of circumstances (or values) are met. Forexample, in some cases, the central application 124 is configured toautomatically send a welcome notification to the mobile device 102 upondetecting a presence of a customer 202 a at the entrance 204 to thestore 200, as described in more detail below. In other cases, thedashboard application 126 may be configured to initiate the welcomenotification upon receiving an “Entrance” value as the current location406 of the customer 202 a from the central system 106 or otherwisedetecting a presence of the customer 202 a at the entrance 204. In suchcases, the dashboard application 12 may initiate the welcomenotification by either sending the notification to the mobile device 102directly or instructing the central application 124 to send thenotification to the mobile device 102.

In other embodiments, the customer service action is manually initiatedby entry of a user input via the customer dashboard 400. For example, inFIG. 4, each entry 401 includes user-selectable options 412 forselecting whether or not to initiate a given customer service action forthe corresponding customer 202. While FIG. 4 only shows two options 412(e.g., “Yes” and “No”) for initiating an action, it will be appreciatedthat any suitable number of options 412 may be displayed on the customerdashboard 400 for use in reacting to each customer 202. In some cases,the options 412 may be presented as a list of available actions, suchas, for example, “Send employee to greet customer at the entrance,”“Send welcome notification to the customer's phone,” and “Send in-storepromotions information to customer's phone.” In such cases, the storemanager or other user of the employee device 126 can decide which of theactions is/are most appropriate based on the information displayed inthat customer's entry 401.

According to embodiments, the available customer service actions caninclude sending a store employee to greet a respective customer 202and/or provide assistance to the customer 202, depending on theinformation displayed in that customer's entry 401. In some cases, theuser of the employee device 126 directs another store employee to greetand/or assist the customer 202, for example, by sending an instructionthrough the employee's own employee device 126, or through a headset orother audio communication device worn by the employee. In other cases,the user of the employee device 126 may perform the customer serviceaction himself.

For example, if the customer qualifier 408, the current location 406,and/or other information displayed on the customer dashboard 400indicate that a “high value” customer has just entered the store 200,the user of the employee device 128 may direct a store employee towardsthe entrance 204 of the store 200 to greet the customer 202 once insidethe store 200. As another example, if the customer qualifier 408, thecustomer location 406, and/or other information displayed on thecustomer dashboard 400 indicates that the customer 202 a detected at theentrance 204 frequently visits the store 200 to pick up photos (e.g.,“photo afficiondo”), the user of the employee device 126 may direct astore employee to a photo counter 206 of the store 200, so that thecustomer 202 can be assisted with no or little wait time. A similaraction may be taken with respective to a pharmacy counter 208 of thestore 200 if the displayed information indicates that the customer 202 adetected at the entrance 204 frequently visits the store 200 to pick aprescription from the pharmacy counter 208.

To provide additional examples, if the customer qualifier 408 and thecustomer location 406 indicate that a “high value” customer 202 b iswaiting at a checkout counter 210 of the store 200, the user of theemployee device 126 may direct a store employee to the checkout counter210 to open an additional register or other point-of-sale (POS) unit. Asimilar action may be taken if the customer location 406 and the dwelltime status 410 displayed on the customer dashboard 400 indicate thatone or more customers 202 have been standing by the checkout counter210, the pharmacy counter 208, or any other point-of-sale (POS) locationwithin the store 200 for longer than a threshold amount of time. Asanother example, if the customer location 406 and the dwell time status410 displayed on the customer dashboard 400 indicates that a givencustomer 202 c has been standing in a certain department of the store200 (e.g., Beauty or Health & Wellness) for longer than a thresholdamount of time, the user of the employee device 126 may send a storeemployee to the customer location 406 to assist the customer 202 withproduct selection and/or location, or help answer any other questionsthat the customer 202 may have. As another example, a store employee maybe sent to the photo counter 206 if one or more customers 202 aredetected near the photo counter 206. In yet another example, a storeemployee may be sent to open an additional register or other POS deviceis more than a predetermined number of customers 202 (e.g., five) aredetected at the checkout counter 210.

Also according to embodiments, the available customer service actionscan include, in addition to or instead of sending a store employee togreet and/or assist the customer, sending an appropriate notification,prompt, alert, or other message to the mobile device 102 of a respectivecustomer 202, in response to the customer data associated with thecustomer 202 and/or displayed in the customer's entry 401 on thedashboard 400. The messages may be displayed on the mobile device 102using a notification feature of the store application 114 or otherapplication stored in a memory of the mobile device 102. In someembodiments, the message may be generated by the employee device 126 andtransmitted to the mobile device 102 by the same. In other embodiments,the employee device 126 may request the central system 106 to generatethe message and transmit the message to the mobile device 102. In stillother embodiments, the central system 106 can be configured toautomatically generate the message and transmit the same to the mobiledevice 102, independent of the employee device 126.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary display screen 500 of the mobile device102 having various exemplary messages 502-510 displayed thereon forcommunicating with the customer 202 in response to the customer'sactions within the store 200. In embodiments, each of the messages502-510 may be triggered by a certain customer data associated with thecustomer 202 and/or displayed on the customer dashboard 400. While FIG.5 shows all of the messages 502-510 on one screen 500, it should beappreciated that the messages 502-510 may be displayed on the displayscreen 500 one at a time and/or at different times during the customer'svisit to the store 200. The messages 502-510 may be displayed on a lockscreen of the mobile device 102 or within a graphical user interface ofthe store application 114. In some embodiments, the messages 502-510 arereceived through the store application 114 and therefore, the storeapplication 114 must be running in the background in order for themessages 502-510 to be displayed on the display screen 500. In otherembodiments, receipt of one or more of the messages 502-510 can triggera launch of the store application 114.

In embodiments, a welcome notification or message 502 can be sent to themobile device 102 of a respective customer 202 in response to thecustomer's entry 401 displaying an “Entrance” value for the customerlocation 406 and/or in response to the presence of the customer 202 abeing detected at or near the entrance 204 of the store 200. Asdescribed herein, the presence of the customer 202 a can be detected bythe environment 100 using the wireless communication device 110positioned adjacent to the entrance 204, as shown in FIG. 2. Once thecustomer 202 a is detected at the entrance 204, the customer dashboard400 can be updated to include a new entry 401 for the newly-arrivedcustomer 202 a, and the corresponding welcome notification 502 may betransmitted to, and displayed on, the customer's mobile device 102.

The welcome notification 502 can include any appropriate text or messagefor welcoming the customer 202 a to the retail store 200. In some cases,the message may identify the store 200 by name (e.g., “Welcome to theWalgreens @ Lake!”) or other identifying information (e.g., storenumber). In other cases, the message may additionally, or alternatively,identify the customer 202 a by name (e.g., “Welcome back, Clark!”) orother identifying information (e.g., a username associated with thecustomer's store account).

Also in embodiments, a promotions alert or message 504 comprisingpromotions information associated with the retail store 200 can be sentto the mobile device 102 of the customer 202. The promotions alert 504can include any suitable text, image, or other message for conveyingrelevant promotions information to the customer 202. In some cases, thepromotions alert 504 can be sent in response to detecting the customer202 within the vicinity of an aisle, department, or other section of thestore 200 that has an applicable promotion, special, or other offer. Inother cases, the promotions alert 504 can be sent to the mobile device102 after the customer 202 enters the store 202, for example, to informthe customer 202 of any in-store promotions or on-going specials. Insuch cases, the promotions alert 504 can be tailored according to thecustomer profile data 130 associated with the customer 202 in order toprovide relevant promotions information based on, for example, thecustomer's shopping history and/or shopping preferences.

In embodiments, an Rx chat prompt or message 506 can be sent to themobile device 102 of the customer 202 in response to detecting acustomer 202 d within the vicinity of the pharmacy counter 208 and/orafter the customer 202 d has been waiting or dwelling near the pharmacycounter 208 for a threshold period of time. The Rx chat prompt 506 caninclude an active hyperlink (such as, e.g., a short uniform resourcelocation (URL)) or other user-clickable option that, when selected, canopen an Rx chat interface either within the store application 114 or asan external webpage. The Rx chat interface can be a live messagingapplication configured to enable the customer 202 d to message orcommunicate, in real-time, with a customer service representative, apharmacist, or a store employee associated with the pharmacy departmentof the store 200. For example, through the Rx chat interface, thecustomer 202 d may be able to obtain answers to questions about acertain pharmacy product, learn the status of a pending pharmacy order,and/or obtain other pharmacy-related information. In the presentscenario, the customer 202 d is offered use of the Rx chat interface viathe mobile device 102 while the customer 202 d waits in line and/or isnear the pharmacy counter 208. In other cases, a customer 202 mayindependently access the Rx chat interface regardless of whether she isin the store 200, for example, via the store application 114 or via aseparate web site associated with the store 200 using a web browser ofthe mobile device 102. In embodiments, the Rx chat interface may behosted by, and/or stored in a memory of, the central system 106. Forexample, the Rx chat interface may be included in the centralapplication 124 of the central system 106.

Also in embodiments, a product selector prompt or message 508 can besent to the mobile device 102 of a respective customer 202 in responseto detecting the customer 202 within the vicinity of a certaindepartment, aisle, or other section of the store 200 and/or after thecustomer 202 has been standing or dwelling in that section for athreshold period of time. The product selector prompt 508 can include anactive hyperlink (such as, e.g., a short uniform resource location(URL)) or other user-clickable option that, when selected, can open aproduct selector tool, either within the store application 114 or usingan external webpage.

The product selector tool can be a graphical user interface configuredto provide information about products that are relevant to thecustomer's current location 406 within the store 200, such as, forexample, product reviews and/or recommendations, product descriptions,product comparisons, etc. In some cases, the product selector tool mayoffer product information that is can be found online, for example, on awebpage associated with the retail store 200. In some embodiments, thecontent provided by the product selector tool can vary depending on thestore department. For example, the product selector tool for the beautydepartment may be more content-heavy and more engaging or interactive,in order to increase the customer's awareness of certain brands, newproducts, etc. As another example, the product selector tool for thehealth & wellness department may be more objective or fact-based andgeared towards helping the customer 202 make an informed decision aboutthe health products (e.g., vitamins, supplements, off-the-shelfmedicines, etc.) sold by the store 200.

In the present scenario, the customer 202 is offered use of the productselector tool via the mobile device 102 while the customer 202 is in thestore 200. In other cases, the customer 202 may independently access theproduct selector tool regardless of whether she is in the store 200, forexample, via the store application 114 or via a separate web siteassociated with the store 200 using a web browser of the mobile device102. In embodiments, the product selector tool may be hosted by, and/orstored in a memory of, the central system 106. For example, the productselector tool may be included in the central application 124 of thecentral system 106.

In some embodiments, an exit notification or message 510 can be sent tothe mobile device 102 of a respective customer 202 in response to thecustomer's entry 401 displaying an “Exit” value for the customerlocation 406 and/or in response to the presence of the customer 202being detected at or near an exit of the store 200. The exitnotification 510 can include a message thanking the customer 202 forvisiting the retail store 200, wishing the customer 202 a good rest ofthe day, or otherwise acknowledging the customer's departure (e.g.,“Hope to see you again soon!”).

In some cases, the exit of the store 200 may be different from theentrance 204. In such cases, a separate wireless communication device110 may be positioned adjacent to the store exit, and the environment100 can detect a presence of the mobile device 102 at or near the exitupon receiving identifying information 112 corresponding to that device110. In other cases, the exit may be the same as the entrance 204. Insuch cases, the dashboard application 128 and/or the central application124 may determine that customer 202 is exiting the store 202 based onthe customer's prior activity in the store 200. For example, if theprior activity shows that the customer 202 is detected near the entrance204 after leaving the checkout counter 210, the dashboard application128 and/or the central application 124 may determine that the customer202 is exiting the store 200. As another example, the dashboardapplication 128 and/or the central application 124 may determine thatthe customer 202 is exiting the store 200 by keeping a count of how manytimes the store ID associated with the store 200 has been received fromthe mobile device 102 within a predetermined time period. For example,the store ID may be received a first time when the customer 202 entersthe store 200 and may be received a second time when the customer 202exits the store 200.

In some embodiments, the employee device 126 can be configured todisplay a map or other representation of the store 200 that shows a liveor real-time location and/or activity of each customer 202 within thestore 200. In such cases, the store map or other representation may beobtained from the store data 132 received by the employee device 126from the central system 106. For example, the store map may be agraphical simulation of the store's layout similar to that shown in FIG.2. In other embodiments, the employee device 126 can be configured todisplay a live video of the store 200. In some cases, the customers 202shown on the store map or other representation can be differentiatedfrom each other by placing a different icon, number, or other tag nextto or on top of each customer 202. The assigned tag (not shown) may bedisplayed next to that the customer's entry 401 in the customerdashboard 400 to help the employee easily identify the customer 202 onthe store map or other representation. In some embodiments, a store mapmay be accessible by the customer 202 on the mobile device 102 throughthe store application 114.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the communication network 108 may include anysuitable number of wired and/or wireless networks, including, forexample, a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN),a wide area network (WAN), a personal area network (PAN) (e.g., aBluetooth-based network), or a combination of local and/or external datanetworks. As a further example, the communication network 108 mayinclude wired telephone and/or cable networks, satellite networks,cellular communication networks, and the like. In embodiments, thecommunication network 108 can be configured to provide the mobile device102, the retail store 104, the central system 106, and any othercomponent of the environment 100 with connectivity to network services,such as Internet services.

Referring now to FIG. 3, shown is a block diagram of computing device300 housing executable software used to facilitate interactions betweencomponents of the environment 100, in accordance with embodiments. Inparticular, one or more instances of the computing device 300 may beutilized to implement the mobile device 102; any, some, or all of thecomponents in the central system 106, such as, for example, centralserver 118, customer database 120, and/or store database 122; and/orany, some, or all of the components in the retail store system 104, suchas, for example, employee device 128 and/or wireless communicationdevices 110. Because data stored and/or accessed by computing device 300can include private information of the customer, embodiments of thecomputing device 300 can be implemented utilizing secure data storageand access procedures.

Generally, in terms of the hardware architecture as shown in FIG. 3,computing device 300 includes processor 302, memory 304, user interface306, communication module 308, and a display 310. As will beappreciated, the user interface 306 may include one or more inputdevices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, etc.) and one ormore output devices (e.g., an additional display, an audio speaker,etc.). Display 310 can be any suitable type of display screen,including, in some cases, a touchscreen display.

Processor 302 is a hardware device and may include one or more dataprocessing units, such as a central processing unit (CPU) and/or agraphics processing unit (GPU). Processor 302 may also representmultiple parallel or distributed processors working in unison. Whencomputing device 300 is in operation, processor 302 is configured toexecute software stored within memory 304, to communicate data to andfrom memory 304, and to generally control operations of computing device300 pursuant to the software.

Memory 304 may be a computer-readable, non-transitory, data storagedevice that may include one or a combination of volatile memory elements(e.g., random access memory (RAM)) or nonvolatile memory elements (e.g.,ROM, hard drive, flash drive, CDROM, etc.). In some cases, memory 304may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types ofstorage media. Memory 304 may have a distributed architecture wherevarious components are situated remote from one another, but are stillaccessed by processor 302. These other components may reside on deviceslocated elsewhere on a network or in a cloud arrangement.

In some cases, memory 304 may be utilized to implement one or moredatabases, such as the customer database 120 and/or the store database122. In some embodiments, memory 304 may also store data related tooperation of the environment 100. For example, the memory 304 of themobile device 102 may store the user identifier 116 and/or othercustomer account information used to identify the customer 202 to thecentral system 106. In the case of the employee device 126, the memory304 may store retail store data 132 and/or customer profile data 130received from the central system 106 for presentation on the employeedashboard.

Memory 304 is configured to store executable software, such as one ormore software applications 312, some of which may or may not be uniqueto the environment 100. The software in memory 304 may include one ormore separate programs or computer programming modules, each comprisingan ordered listing of machine readable instructions that, when executedby processor 302, cause the processor 302 to perform various acts and/orimplement logical functions. For example, the software in memory 304 mayinclude a suitable operating system (O/S). The one or more softwareapplications 312 stored in the memory 304 may vary depending on thespecific application of the computing device 200. For example, in thecase of the mobile device 102, the one or more software applications 312can include the mobile store application 114. In the case of the centralserver 118, the one or more software applications 312 can include thecentral application 124. And in the case of the employee device 126, theone or more software applications 312 can include the dashboardapplication 128.

For purposes of communicating with other components of the environment100 over the communication network 108 using any suitable number ofwired and/or wireless links, computing device 300 is equipped withcommunication module 308. The communication module 308 may be configuredto send and receive data over the communication network 108 using one ormore network protocols, such as, for example, cellular network protocol,Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP), IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, BLE and/orBluetooth, RFID, NFC, etc. Accordingly, the communication module 308comprises various network communication equipment and circuitry, suchas, for example, a telephonic interface, a cellular communication port,a network interface, a network card, such as an Ethernet card or awireless connection card, a router, any suitable number of wired and/orwireless transceivers, etc. As shown in FIG. 3, in the case of at leastthe mobile device 102, the communication module 308 includes at leastone wireless transceiver 314 for facilitating communications with thecentral system 106 (e.g., using a WiFi network) and at least oneshort-range wireless receiver 316 (e.g., Bluetooth receiver) forreceiving the identifying information 112 from the wirelesscommunication device(s) 110 in the retail store 200.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary sequence 600 of functions and/orinteractions that may be performed by one or more components of theenvironment 100 to identify and communicate a customer in a retailstore, such as the retail store 200 shown in FIG. 2, in accordance withembodiments. As shown in FIG. 6, the functions of the sequence 600 maybe implemented using a respective one of the mobile device 102, thecentral system 106, and the store system 104 of the environment 100. Inembodiments, the interactions between the mobile device 102, the centralsystem 106, and/or the store system 104 may be implemented using thecommunication network 108 of the environment 100.

In some embodiments, relevant portions of the sequence 600 may beassociated with one or more methods for identifying and communicatingwith a customer in a retail store using the mobile device 102, thecentral system 106, and/or the store system 104. In such cases, themethod(s) may be carried out by one or more instances of the computingdevice 300 of FIG. 3 using software stored on a non-transitory computerreadable medium (e.g., the memory 304) and executing on one or morecomputer processors (e.g., the processor 302) of the computing device(s)300. For example, the software may include all or a portion of the storeapplication 114, the central application 124, and/or the dashboardapplication 126, and the computing device(s) 300 may be implemented bythe mobile device 102, the central server 118, and/or the employeedevice 126.

As illustrated, the sequence 600 may begin at block 602, where the storesystem 104 transmits identifying information (such as, e.g., identifyinginformation 112 shown in FIG. 1) to the mobile device 102 using awireless communication device (such as, e.g., communication device 110shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) positioned at an entrance to the retail store(such as, e.g., entrance 204 of the store 200 shown in FIG. 2).According to embodiments, the wireless communication device may beconfigured to transmit the identifying information via the communicationnetwork 108 and using a wireless transmitter (such as, e.g., aBluetooth-enabled transmitter) of the wireless communication device. Theidentifying information (also referred to herein as “ID info”) can bestored in a memory of the wireless communication device and can includea store identifier (ID) configured to identify the retail store, alocation identifier (ID) configured to identify the in-store location ofthe wireless communication device, and/or a device identifier (e.g.,UUID) configured to identify the wireless communication device, itself.

At block 604, the mobile device 102 receives the identifying informationfrom the wireless communication device via the communication network 108and using a wireless receiver of the mobile device 102 (such as, e.g.,short-range wireless receiver 316 shown in FIG. 3) as the user of themobile device 102 enters the store (such as, e.g., customer 202 a nearthe entrance 204, as shown in FIG. 2). The sequence 606 further includesblock 606, where the mobile device 102 determines a store ID based onthe identifying information. The technique used to obtain the store IDmay differ depending on the content of the identifying information. Forexample, in embodiments where the identifying information does notinclude a store ID, the mobile device 102 may be configured to identifythe store ID associated with the identifying information using a datatable that correlates the identifying information associated with eachof a plurality of wireless communication devices to the store identifierassociated with the retail store in which the communication device issituated. However, in embodiments where the identifying information doesinclude the store ID associated with the retail store, the mobile device102 can retrieve the store ID directly from the received identifyinginformation.

At block 608, the mobile device 102 transmits the store ID and a user IDassociated with a user of the mobile device 102 to the central system106 via the communication network 108 and using a wireless transmitterof the mobile device 102 (such as, e.g., wireless transceiver 314 shownin FIG. 3). In embodiments, the mobile device 102 can be configured toretrieve a user identifier (ID) stored in a memory of the mobile device102 (such as, e.g., user ID 116). The user ID may be any type ofinformation (e.g., username, account number, etc.) that is associatedwith a user of the mobile device 102 and is capable of uniquelyidentifying an account held by the user, the account being associatedwith the retail store (e.g., a store account, a loyalty account, amembership account, etc.).

At block 610, the central system 106 (and/or the central server 118included therein) receives the store ID and user ID from the mobiledevice 102 and retrieves customer profile data associated with the userID from a customer database (such as, e.g., customer database 120 shownin FIG. 1). The customer database can be configured to store customerprofile data for each customer having a pre-established account with thestore. The customer profile data can include the user ID, name andaddress information, age and gender information, a photo, accounthistory, spending or purchase history, shopping preferences, a customerqualifier that categorizes the customer based on one or more pieces ofthe customer profile data (such as, e.g., spending history, shoppingpreferences, etc.), etc. In some embodiments, the sequence 600 furtherincludes block 612, where the customer's current activity (e.g.,detection of the mobile device 102 at the store entrance) is stored inthe customer database as part of the customer profile data. In suchcases, the customer profile data further includes a customer activityfield for keeping a log or record of the customer's visits to eachretail store, including when the customer visits the store, the identityof each store visited, the purchases made while at each store, etc.

At block 614, the central system 106 sends the customer profile dataretrieved at block 610 to the store system that is associated with thestore ID received from the mobile device 102, via the communicationnetwork 108. At block 616, the store system 104 displays the receivedcustomer data on an employee device (such as, e.g., employee device 126shown in FIG. 1) as part of a customer dashboard (such as, e.g.,customer dashboard 400 shown in FIG. 4). The customer dashboard can be agraphical user interface configured to display an entry for eachcustomer within the store (such as, e.g., entries 401 shown in FIG. 4),each entry including customer profile data (such as, e.g., customerphoto 402, customer name 404, and customer qualifier 408 shown in FIG.4) and current location data (such as, e.g., customer location 406 shownin FIG. 4) for that customer.

The customer dashboard enables a user of the employee device to easilyidentify the customer(s) entering the retail store and determine whichcustomer(s) may require extra attention or customer assistance, forexample, based on the customer qualifier assigned to each customer andother profile data displayed in each customer's dashboard entry. In someembodiments, the sequence 600 includes block 618, where the store system104 (and/or the employee device included therein) directs or dispatchesan employee of the store to greet the customer that just entered thestore. For example, upon receiving the customer data from the centralsystem 106, the employee device may automatically send a notification toa communication device of the store employee (e.g., another employeedevice, a mobile device, an audio communication device, etc.), thenotification directing the employee to greet the customer and in somecases, including information to help the employee identify the customer(e.g., photo, name, age, gender, etc.). In some embodiments, theemployee notification may be triggered based on the customer qualifierassigned that customer. For example, the employee notification may besent if the customer qualifier indicates that the customer is a “highvalue” customer.

In addition, the sequence 600 further includes block 620, where thecentral system 106 sends a welcome notification (such as, e.g., welcomenotification 502 shown in FIG. 5) to the mobile device 102. The welcomenotification may comprise text, image(s), or other content for conveyinga message welcoming the user of the mobile device 102 to the retailstore. The welcome message may be personalized based on the customerprofile data obtained at step 610, for example, by including thecustomer's name in the welcome greeting. In some cases, the sequence 600further includes block 622, wherein the central system 106 also sends apromotions notification (such as, e.g., promotions notification 504shown in FIG. 5) to the mobile device 102. The promotions notificationmay include information about on-going promotions, in-store specials,and other offers available at the retail store. In embodiments, thecentral system 106 may automatically generate and send the welcomenotification and/or the promotions notification upon identifying thecustomer based on the user ID received from the mobile device 102. Atblock 624, the mobile device 102 displays the notification(s) receivedfrom the central system 106 on a display of the mobile device 102.

As shown in FIG. 6, the central system 106 can be configured toautomatically generate and send the welcome notification and/orpromotions notification upon detecting the customer at the store. Inother embodiments, the central system 106 can be configured to generateand send the notifications upon receiving instructions from the storesystem 104. In still other embodiments, the store system 104 can beconfigured to generate and send notifications to the mobile device 102,instead of the central system 106.

In some embodiments, the sequence 600 ends after the notifications aredisplayed on the mobile device 102. In other embodiments, the sequence600 continues to block 626, where, after some time, for example, whilethe user is exiting the store, the mobile device 102 receivesidentifying information from a wireless communication device positionednear the exit of the store. In some cases, the store exit is the same asthe store entrance. In such cases, the mobile device 102 receives theidentifying information from the same wireless communication device asin block 604. For example, the wireless communication device may beconfigured to continuously or periodically transmit the identifyinginformation within a predefined transmission range, and the mobiledevice 102 can be configured to pick up or receive the identifyinginformation when positioned within that transmission range (e.g., whileentering and exiting the store). In other cases, a different wirelesscommunication device may be positioned at the exit of the store and theidentifying information transmitted by the device may uniquely identifythat communication device.

In some cases, the sequence 600 further includes block 628, where themobile device 102 determines a store ID based on the receivedidentifying information (similar to block 606). At block 630, the mobiledevice 102 transmits the store ID to the central system 106 via thecommunication network 108, or otherwise informs the central system 106that the customer is near the exit of the store. In some cases, thecentral system 106 may automatically determine that the customer isexiting the store upon receiving the store ID again from the mobiledevice 102, the first time being at block 610. In some cases, the mobiledevice 102 also transmits the user ID associated with the customer tothe central system 106 at block 630 (e.g., similar to block 608). Inother cases, the user ID may not be sent again because the centralsystem 106 already identified the user of the mobile device in block610. In some embodiments, the sequence 600 further includes block 632,where the customer's activity (e.g., detection of the customer exitingthe store) is stored in the customer database (e.g., similar to block612).

As shown in FIG. 6, the sequence 600 includes block 634, where thecentral system 106 generates and sends an exit notification (such as,e.g., exit notification 510) to the mobile device 102 via thecommunication network 108. The exit notification may include text,image(s), and/or other content for conveying a message that thanks thecustomer for visiting the store or otherwise acknowledges the customer'sdeparture. At block 636, the mobile device 102 receives and displays theexit notification. In embodiments, the sequence 600 may end after block636.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary sequence 700 of functions and/orinteractions that may be performed by one or more components of theenvironment 100 to anticipate one or more needs of a customer in aretail store, such as the retail store 200 shown in FIG. 2, and toprovide appropriate customer assistance based thereon, in accordancewith embodiments. As shown in FIG. 7, the functions of the sequence 700may be implemented using a respective one of the mobile device 102, thecentral system 106, and the store system 104 of the environment 100. Inembodiments, the interactions between the mobile device 102, the centralsystem 106, and/or the store system 104 may be implemented using thecommunication network 108 of the environment 100. In some embodiments,the sequence 700 may be carried in conjunction with the sequence 600shown in FIG. 6. For example, in one embodiment, the sequence 700 maybegin after block 624 of the sequence 600 and may end before block 626of the sequence 600. In other embodiments, the sequence 700 may becarried out independently of the sequence 600.

In some embodiments, relevant portions of the sequence 700 may beassociated with one or more methods for identifying and communicatingwith a customer in a retail store using the mobile device 102, thecentral system 106, and/or the store system 104. In such cases, themethod(s) may be carried out by one or more instances of the computingdevice 300 of FIG. 3 using software stored on a non-transitory computerreadable medium (e.g., the memory 304) and executing on one or morecomputer processors (e.g., the processor 302) of the computing device(s)300. For example, the software may include all or a portion of the storeapplication 114, the central application 124, and/or the dashboardapplication 126, and the computing device(s) 300 may be implemented bythe mobile device 102, the central server 118, and/or the employeedevice 126.

As illustrated, the sequence 700 may begin at block 702, where the storesystem 104 transmits identifying information (such as, e.g., identifyinginformation 112 shown in FIG. 1) using a plurality of wirelesscommunication devices (such as, e.g., communication devices 110 shown inFIG. 1) positioned at various locations throughout the retail store (forexample, as shown in FIG. 2). According to embodiments, each wirelesscommunication device may be configured to transmit the identifyinginformation via the communication network 108 and using a wirelesstransmitter (such as, e.g., a Bluetooth-enabled transmitter) of thewireless communication device. The identifying information (alsoreferred to herein as “ID info”) transmitted by each device can bestored in a memory of the wireless communication device and can includea store identifier (ID) configured to identify the retail store, alocation identifier (ID) configured to identify the in-store location ofthe wireless communication device, and/or a device identifier (e.g.,UUID) configured to uniquely identify the wireless communication device,itself.

At block 704, the mobile device 102 receives identifying informationfrom a nearby wireless communication device via the communicationnetwork 108 and using a wireless receiver of the mobile device 102 (suchas, e.g., short-range wireless receiver 316 shown in FIG. 3). Inembodiments, each wireless communication device may be configured tocontinuously or periodically transmit identifying information within apredefined transmission range, and the mobile device 102 can beconfigured to pick up or receive the identifying information from arespective communication device when positioned within the transmissionrange of that device.

At block 706, the mobile device 102 determines an in-store location ofthe respective wireless communication device based on the receivedidentifying information. In embodiments, each wireless communicationdevice can be assigned to a particular area of the retail store, suchas, for example, a specific aisle, department, or other section of thestore (e.g., as shown in FIG. 2), and the identifying informationassociated with a respective communication device can be tied to theassigned location of that device. The technique used to obtain thein-store location may differ depending on the content of the identifyinginformation. For example, in embodiments where the identifyinginformation does not include an in-store location ID, the mobile device102 may be configured to identify the location ID associated with theidentifying information using a data table that correlates theidentifying information associated with each of the plurality ofwireless communication devices to the in-store location at which thecommunication device is situated. However, in embodiments where theidentifying information does include the location ID associated with thein-store location of the respective communication device, the mobiledevice 102 can retrieve the location ID directly from the receivedidentifying information.

At block 708, the mobile device 102 transmits the in-store location tothe central system 106 via the communication network 108 and using awireless transmitter of the mobile device 102 (such as, e.g., wirelesstransceiver 314 shown in FIG. 3). In some cases, the mobile device 102also transmits a user ID associated with a user of the mobile device 102(such as, e.g., user ID 116 shown in FIG. 1), and/or a store IDassociated with the retail store in which the mobile device 102 islocated, to the central system 106.

In other cases, the user ID and/or store ID may have been previouslyprovided to the central system 106, for example, when the user firstentered the retail store (e.g., at step 608 shown in FIG. 6). In suchcases, the mobile device 102 may not need to transmit the user ID and/orstore ID again, and the customer profile data associated with the userID may have already been retrieved from the customer database by thecentral system 106 (e.g., at block 610 shown in FIG. 6) and sent to thestore system 104 (e.g., at block 614 shown in FIG. 6) for display on theemployee device (e.g., at block 616 shown in FIG. 6). On the other hand,if the user ID is transmitted with the in-store location, the sequence700 may additionally include steps (not shown) similar to blocks 610,614, and 616 of the sequence 600.

In still other embodiments, the user ID may not be available, forexample, if the customer is not a pre-established account holder at theretail store. In such cases, the central system 106 and/or the storesystem 104 may use information associated with the mobile device 102 toidentify the customer for internal processing and/or to keep track ofthe customer's mobile device 102 while in the store. As will beappreciated, if no user ID or customer profile data is available for agiven customer, the customer's entry in the customer dashboard may notinclude customer profile data, but may still include dwell time status,current location information, and any other information that is notdependent on customer profile data.

In some embodiments, the sequence 700 further includes block 710, wherethe central system 106 (and/or the central server 118 included therein)receives the in-store location from the mobile device 102 and stores thecustomer's current activity (e.g., detection of the mobile device 102within the vicinity of the respective wireless communication device) inthe customer database as part of the customer profile data (e.g.,similar to block 612 in FIG. 6). For example, the customer profile datamay include a customer activity field for keeping a log or record of thecustomer's visits to the retail store, including the customer'smovements within the store, an identity of the in-store locationsvisited, the purchases made while at the store, the purchases that werenot made (e.g., after dwelling in a department for the threshold amountof time), the department, aisle, or section of the store in which thecustomer dwelled and for how long, etc.

At block 712, the central system 106 sends the in-store location of themobile device 102 to the store system 104 via the communication network108. At block 714, the store system 104 displays the received in-storelocation on an employee device (such as, e.g., employee device 126 shownin FIG. 1) as part of a customer dashboard (such as, e.g., customerdashboard 400 shown in FIG. 4) in association with customer profile datafor the user. The customer dashboard can be a graphical user interfaceconfigured to display an entry for each customer within the store (suchas, e.g., entries 401 shown in FIG. 4), each entry including thecustomer profile data (such as, e.g., customer photo 402, customer name404, and customer qualifier 408 shown in FIG. 4) and the currentin-store location data (such as, e.g., customer location 406 shown inFIG. 4) for that customer.

At block 716, the store system 104 (and/or the employee device 126included therein) starts a timer (also referred to herein as “dwelltimer”) for keeping track of an amount of time spent by the customer atthe current in-store location. At block 718, the store system 104displays a dwell time status on the customer dashboard (such as, e.g.,dwell time status 410 shown in FIG. 4). In some cases, the dwell timestatus reflects an actual amount of time spent by the customer in thecurrent location and is updated in real time (or near real-time). Inother cases, the dwell time status reflects a relative amount of time ascompared to a predetermined threshold (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4). Forexample, in some embodiments, the predetermined threshold is twominutes, and the dwell time status indicates whether the customer'sdwell time is less than, equal to, or greater than the threshold.

At block 720, the store system 104 launches a corresponding customerservice action in response to the dwell time exceeding or meeting thepredetermined threshold. In embodiments, the corresponding customerservice action can vary depending on one or more aspects of the customerprofile data (such as, e.g., customer qualifier, purchase history, etc.)and/or current customer location, as described herein. In some cases,the employee device may carry out the customer service action, forexample, when the action is directing a store employee to the customer'scurrent location within the store to assist the customer. For example,if the customer is standing or dwelling near a checkout counter (suchas, e.g., customer 202 b near checkout counter 210, as shown in FIG. 2)for more than the predetermined threshold time, the employee device maydirect a store employee or manager to the checkout counter to open anadditional register or other POS device. In some embodiments, theemployee device is configured to automatically send a notification to acommunication device of the store employee (e.g., another employeedevice, a mobile device, an audio communication device, etc.) fordirecting the employee to assist the customer. In such cases, thenotification can include information to help the employee identify thecustomer (such as, e.g., photo, name, age, gender, etc.).

In other cases, once the threshold is met or exceeded, the employeedevice and/or store system 104 may direct the central system 106 tocarry out the customer service action, for example, when the action issending a message to the mobile device 102. In such cases, the sequence700 further includes block 722, where the central system 106 sendsnotifications, prompts, alerts, or other messages to the mobile device102 (such as, e.g., promotions alert 504, Rx chat prompt 506, and/orproduct selector prompt 508 shown in FIG. 5) via the communicationnetwork 108. At block 724, the mobile device 102 displays the message(s)received from the central system 106 on a display of the mobile device102.

In embodiments, the type of message sent to the mobile device 102 canvary depending on the current location of the customer within the store.For example, if the customer is standing or dwelling in a health andwellness department (such as, e.g., customer 202 c between health &wellness aisles 5 and 6, as shown in FIG. 2) and/or a beauty departmentfor the store for more than the threshold time, the central system 106may send the product selector prompt to the mobile device 102, theprompt configured to open a product selector tool for helping thecustomer locate or select an appropriate product. As another example, ifthe customer is standing or dwelling near a pharmacy counter (such as,e.g., customer 202 d near pharmacy counter 208, as shown in FIG. 2) ofthe store for more than the threshold time, the central system 106 maysend the Rx chat prompt to the mobile device 102, the prompt configuredto open a chat interface for enabling the customer to message orcommunicate with an online customer service representative, apharmacist, or other store employee to discuss a pharmacy product or thecustomer's pharmacy order.

In some embodiments, the sequence 700 further includes block 726, wherethe employee device stops the dwell timer once the threshold is exceededby a predetermined amount and/or once a new in-store location isreceived from the central system 106. A new in-store location may bereceived using the same techniques described above with respect toblocks 702, 704, 706, and 708. For example, if the customer moves fromthe current location to a new location within the store (for example,from beauty aisle 2 to the photo counter 206, as shown in FIG. 2), themobile device 102 may receive a new set of identifying information fromthe wireless communication device that is positioned near the newlocation (e.g., similar to the block 704). The new identifyinginformation may then be processed to determine the in-store location ofthe customer (e.g., similar to block 706), and the new in-store locationmay be sent to the central system 106 (e.g., similar to block 708) forconveyance to the store system 104 (e.g., similar to block 712) anddisplay on the employee device (e.g., similar to block 714). Once a newin-store location is received, the dwell timer may be restarted (e.g.,similar to block 716), and blocks 718 through 724 may be repeated.

The sequence 700 may end once the central system 106 determines that thecustomer has exited the store, for example, as described above withrespect to sequence 600, or when no new in-store location information isdetected by the mobile device 102 and/or received by the central system106.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, certain blocks of the sequences 600 and 700 (e.g.,blocks 602, 604, and 606 in FIG. 6 and blocks, 702, 704, and 706 in FIG.7) represent exemplary embodiments for detecting a presence of themobile device 102 at, near, or within the retail store. In otherembodiments, the sequences 600 and/or 700 may use other techniques fordetecting a proximity of the mobile device 102 to the retail storeand/or to a specific location within the retail store. For example,while embodiments described herein utilize iBeacon devices to determinethe location of the mobile device 102 within the store, otherembodiments of the store system 104 may include any other suitableproximity-detection or proximity-determining devices for tracking oridentifying a location of the mobile device 102 within the store. Inanother embodiment, the store system 104 may include a video camerasystem configured to capture images of the customer as he moves throughthe store and use the images to identify and/or track the customerthroughout the store.

In yet another embodiment, the store system 104 may be configured todetect and track the mobile device 102 throughout the store using adevice identifier (ID) that is uniquely associated with the mobiledevice 102 (such as, e.g., the MacID for an Apple iPhone) and isbroadcast by the mobile device 102 to the store system 104. In suchcases, the store system 104 may include one or more wireless receivers(not shown) for detecting or receiving the wireless signal transmittedby the mobile device 102. In some cases, the store system 104 and/or thecentral system 106 may be configured to collect customer activityinformation for the mobile deice 102 before the customer has an accountwith the store. In such cases, the store system 104 and/or the centralsystem 106 may store the customer activity information in associationwith readily-available identifying information for the customer and/orthe mobile device 102, such as, e.g., the MacID. Once the customer setsup a store account, the previously-stored information may beretro-actively linked to the customer's new account and added to thecustomer's profile data.

In certain embodiments, the process descriptions or blocks in thefigures, such as FIGS. 6 and 7, can represent modules, segments, orportions of code which include one or more executable instructions forimplementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Anyalternate implementations are included within the scope of theembodiments described herein, in which functions may be executed out oforder from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrentlyor in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as wouldbe understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of theinvention, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are possibleexamples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understandingof the principles of the invention. Many variations and modificationsmay be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the inventionwithout substantially departing from the spirit and principles of theinvention. All such modifications are intended to be included hereinwithin the scope of this disclosure and the invention and protected bythe following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method ofidentifying and communicating with a user through a mobile device of theuser, the method comprising: receiving, from the mobile device, a useridentifier associated with the user and an entity identifier associatedwith an entity location, the entity identifier obtained by the mobiledevice from a wireless transmitter located adjacent to an entrance ofthe entity location; retrieving user profile data associated with theuser identifier from a user database, the user profile data including auser qualifier that categorizes the user into a particular segment of apre-defined group of segments into which users are categorized based onaccount histories of the users; receiving, from the mobile device, alocation identifier indicative of an in-store location of the userwithin a region of the entity location, the location identifier obtainedby the mobile device from another wireless transmitter located withinthe entity location and associated with the region of the entitylocation; determining, by one or more processors, based on the locationidentifier, the in-store location of the user and a dwell timeindicating an amount of time the user has been dwelling at the in-storelocation; based on the user qualifier, the in-store location of theuser, and the dwell time of the user: determining, by the one or moreprocessors, a set of selectable actions that are personalized for theuser, and causing, by the one or more processors, the set of selectableactions, the user qualifier, the in-store location, and the dwell timeto be presented on a display device of the entity location, the dwelltime updated in real time or near real time; sending at least onenotification to the mobile device of the user for display thereon, theat least one notification comprising at least one of information relatedto the entity location and a portion of the user profile data; andinitiating, by the one or more processors, a particular action of theset of selectable actions based on a selection of the particular actionreceived at the display device of the entity location.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising notifying atleast one assistance provider to greet the user upon the user enteringthe entity location.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising retrieving entity data associated with the entityidentifier from an entity database, the entity data including promotionsinformation related to the entity location; and wherein the at least onenotification is configured to include the promotions information.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting apresence of the user near an exit of the entity location; and sending anadditional notification to the mobile device for display thereon.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the user is a firstuser, the user qualifier is a first user qualifier, the in-storelocation is a first in-store location, the dwell time is a first dwelltime, and the set of selectable actions is a first set of selectableactions; and the method further comprises: based on a second userqualifier of a second user, a second in-store location of the seconduser, and a second dwell time of the second user, determining a secondset of selectable actions personalized for the second user, the secondset of selectable actions different than the first set of selectableactions; and causing the second set of selectable actions to bepresented on the display device of the entity location.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing theset of selectable actions presented on the display device of the entitylocation to be updated based on received updates to at least one of thein-store location of the user or the dwell time of the user at thein-store location.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising causing the presentation of the dwell time of theuser to be updated at the display device of the entity location in realtime or in near real time, and causing an alert to be displayed when thedwell time of the user exceeds a threshold.
 8. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein initiating the particular action of the setof selectable actions includes transmitting information for display atthe mobile device of the user.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein initiating the particular action of the set ofselectable actions includes transmitting an instruction to a computingdevice of an agent of the entity location to take a particular customerservice action with respect to the user.
 10. A system in networkcommunication with a mobile device of a customer, the system comprising:a retail store system including: an employee device configured todisplay customer profile data associated with the customer, an in-storelocation of the customer within a region of a retail store, a dwell timeof the customer at the in-store location, and a set of selectableactions that are personalized for the customer, the displayed customerprofile data including a customer qualifier that categorizes thecustomer into a particular customer segment of a pre-defined group ofcustomer segments into which customers are categorized based on accounthistories of the customers, and the set of selectable actions determinedbased on the customer qualifier of the customer, the in-store locationof the customer, and the dwell time of the customer; a wirelesstransmitter positioned adjacent to an entrance of the retail store, thewireless transmitter being configured to transmit a store identifierassociated with the retail store within a predetermined transmissionrange, wherein the mobile device receives the store identifier uponentering the predetermined transmission range; and another wirelesstransmitter positioned within the retail store and associated with theregion of the retail store, the another wireless transmitter beingconfigured to transmit a location identifier associated with the regionof the retail store within another predetermined range, wherein themobile device receives the location identifier upon entering the anotherpredetermined transmission range; and a central system in networkcommunication with the mobile device and the retail store system, thecentral system including: a customer database configured to store thecustomer profile data in association with a user identifier associatedwith the customer, and a central server configured to: receive, from themobile device, the store identifier, the user identifier, the locationidentifier, and in real time or near real time a dwell time indicatingan amount of time the customer has been dwelling at the in-storelocation within the region of the retail store; retrieve the customerprofile data from the customer database based on the user identifier;determine the in-store location of the customer based on the locationidentifier; determine the set of selectable actions based on thecustomer qualifier, the in-store location of the customer, and the dwelltime of the customer at the in-store location; provide the customerprofile data, the in-store location of the customer, the dwell time ofthe customer, and the set of selectable actions to the employee device;send at least one notification to the mobile device for display thereon,the at least one notification comprising at least one of informationrelated to the retail store and a portion of the customer profile data;and initiate a particular action of the set of selectable actions basedon a selection of the particular action entered at the employee device.11. The system of claim 10, wherein: the central system further includesa store database configured to store retail store data in associationwith the store identifier of the retail store; the central server isfurther configured to retrieve the retail store data from the storedatabase based on the store identifier received from the mobile device;the retail store data includes promotions information related to theretail store; and the at least one notification is configured to includethe promotions information.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein thewireless transmitter is a short range wireless transmitter.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the set of selectable actions includes anaction for notifying at least one employee to greet the customer uponthe customer entering the retail store.
 14. The system of claim 10,wherein the central server is further configured to detect a presence ofthe customer near an exit of the retail store, and send an additionalnotification to the mobile device for display thereon, the additionalnotification being related to the customer exiting the retail store. 15.The system of claim 10, wherein: the customer is a first customer, thecustomer qualifier is a first customer qualifier, the in-store locationis a first in-store location, the dwell time is first dwell time, andthe set of selectable actions is a first set of selectable actions; theemployee device is configured to further display a second customerqualifier that categorizes a second customer into a respective segmentof the pre-defined group of customer segments, a second in-storelocation of the second customer within the retail store, a second dwelltime of the second customer at the second in-store location, and asecond set of selectable actions that are personalized for the secondcustomer and that are different than the first set of selectable actionspersonalized for the first customer; and the central server is furtherconfigured to determine the second set of selectable actions based onthe second customer qualifier, the second in-store location of thesecond customer, and the second dwell time of the second customer. 16.The system of claim 10, wherein the central server is further configuredto: determine an updated set of selectable actions based on an update toat least one of the in-store location of the customer or the dwell timeof the customer at the in-store location; and provide the updated set ofselectable options to the employee device for display thereon.
 17. Thesystem of claim 10, the particular action of the set of selectableactions includes a transmission of information for display at the mobiledevice of the customer or a transmission of an instruction to acomputing device of an agent of the entity location to take a particularcustomer service action with respect to the customer.
 18. Acomputer-implemented method of communicating a presence of a customerassociated with a mobile device in a retail store, the methodcomprising: receiving, via a wireless receiver of the mobile device, astore identifier associated with the retail store, the store identifierbeing transmitted by a wireless transmitter located adjacent to anentrance of the retail store, and the mobile device receiving the storeidentifier upon entering a predetermined transmission range of thewireless transmitter; receiving, via the wireless receiver of the mobiledevice, a location identifier associated with an in-store location ofthe customer within a region of the store, the location identifier beingtransmitted by another wireless transmitter located within the store andassociated with the region of the store, and the mobile device receivingthe location identifier upon entering another predetermined transmissionrange of the another wireless transmitter; retrieving, from a memory ofthe mobile device, a user identifier associated with the customer;determining in real time or near real time, at a processor of the mobiledevice, a dwell time indicating an amount of time the customer has beendwelling at the in-store location within the region of the store;transmitting, via a wireless transceiver of the mobile device, the useridentifier, the store identifier, the location identifier, and the dwelltime to a central server, the central server configured to display, at adisplay device of the retail store, customer profile data associatedwith the user identifier, the in-store location of the customer, thedwell time of the customer at the in-store location, and a set ofselectable actions that are personalized for the customer, the displayedcustomer profile data including a customer qualifier that categorizesthe customer into a particular customer segment of a pre-defined groupof customer segments into which customers are categorized based onaccount histories of the customers, and the set of selectable actionsdetermined based on the customer qualifier, the in-store location of thecustomer, and the dwell time of the customer at the in-store location;receiving, via the wireless transceiver, at least one notification fromthe central server, the at least one notification transmitted to themobile device based on a selection of a particular action of the set ofselectable actions displayed at the display device of the retail store,and the at least one notification comprising at least one of informationrelated to the retail store and the customer profile data; anddisplaying the at least one notification on a display of the mobiledevice.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the atleast one notification includes promotions information related to theretail store.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, furthercomprising: receiving the store identifier for a second time from thewireless transmitter when the customer nears an exit of the retailstore; transmitting the store identifier to the central server;receiving, from the central server, an additional notification relatedto the customer exiting the retail store; and displaying the additionalnotification on the display.